SCIENCE MEETS Skincare

Annalouise Kenny, Founder and CEO, Skin Philosophy, discusses with Priyanka Parshurami about empowering the beauty professional with cutting-edge technology to create routines that help achieve healthy, radiant skin.

There is much awareness about skincare today, thanks to social media, and consumers are looking for more advanced and effective solutions. This has put professional skincare services on high demand.

Annalouise Kenny, Founder and CEO, Skin Philosophy, and one of the most experienced aesthetics consultants in the UK, has witnessed the industry grow and develop over the past 15 years. She has consistently been at the forefront of innovation and has worked to constantly advance and enrich her techniques.

In an exclusive interaction with Professional Beauty x Hairdressers Journal, Kenny talks about how the integration of scientific knowledge, technology and traditional practices has provided a holistic approach to skincare education, ensuring that professionals are well-equipped to cater to the diverse needs of clients.

Excerpts from her interview…

Tell us about the importance of an everyday skincare regime.

The everyday skincare routine is of utmost importance, as what we use on the skin everyday helps in maintaining a healthy skin. For instance, a salon or clinical treatment will show results only if products used are suitable for the skin type. Hence it is very important to have a daily skincare routine as treatments are good to treat a skin condition, but to maintain your own skin, you have to use a skincare routine on a day-to-day basis.

What are the parameters that salons must consider while hiring therapists?

Along with the good education and good courses behind them, the therapists should also be passionate about the work.

Because if they are passionate about the industry, they will want to do things right themselves. So, make sure that your therapist has good education, and if they don’t, then they’re passionate enough to want to learn.

Which are the must-have skincare treatments for salons?

Referring to the Indian skin type, all the salons must have some sort of lactic peel as lactic acid helps in hydrating, resurfacing and brightening. It’s not photosensitising and doesn’t peel the skin either. So, it is a really good one to have in clinics and salons because you get great results, especially for Indian skin. It’s also safe to use.

Is current skincare education in India at par with the international standards?

No, at the moment skincare education in India is the same as what we had in the UK sometime ago. Where the salons would get education and knowledge transfer through their suppliers, i.e a supplier would teach how to use a particular device, like the HydraFacial machine.

But in this case the therapist does not have essential knowledge like what is the skin type, how to maintain it and the problems caused if good aftercare is not taken.

Hence, it’s important for the therapist to understand skincare - what is pigmentation? How to treat it? What are the dos and don’ts after the skincare treatment? The aftercare and much more. In the absence of basic knowledge, the therapist will never be able to grow in their career and deliver results.

What inspired Skin Philosophy to expand to the Indian market?

India is a growing market. The economy is growing, the aesthetic market is growing, and what I see is India is very like how the UK was and it’s going to be very advanced in a couple of years. So, we need to make sure that there’s good education along with those more advanced treatments that therapists can get.

What tips would you give to skin therapists?

People here are worried about doing something like lasers or peels or needling. So, the therapists are not too confident either. But once you get that good education to back you, you can grow as a therapist. You can grow within the salon you are working or as an individual therapist.

Make sure that before you do a treatment you understand why the treatment is being done. Understand your client’s skin and know how you are going to maintain those results. Don’t just focus on the treatment you are doing today, but also on the treatment you are going to do every month for the client. PBHJ